The Expertise stat has to go...

The optimal solution would to provide everyone gear sets of pre-determined stats depending on build at the beginning of each game. You can alter the appearance of your gear through achieving certain PvP ranks, by performing special achievements("PvP MvP 5 games in a row"), or by paying with credits. That way you ensure everyone is on a level playing field, while still allowing players "cred" by altering their appearance in accordance with skill.

However, they'll never implement this because want to roflstomp people through earned gear advantages. Otherwise known as a "power trip".

I don't expect Bioware to drastically change the pvp gear system and as such will grind out my gear like everyone else. However I think gear gating in pvp is never a good idea, the idea being pvp is to fight other players and the harder it is to compete the less players you will have to compete against. The less players you have pvp'ing the less time BioWare (or any company) will spend in developing pvp and as such will use their resources to add more raids / quest hubs and such.

I try to look at the long term picture of things and the more people that get involved with pvp the more BioWare will spend in developing it. Not to mention that in a months time I would still like to have 2 minute WZ queues instead of 45 minute WZ queues.

PVP valor could still mean something because BioWare could change it so at valor rank 20 you get and extra cc break / valor rank 40 you get 30% reduced cc time / valor rank 50 increases our level 14 run buff by 10% / valor rank 60 get access to a 125% mount.

Emphasis on "seem rewarding." Basically it boils down to two mentalities on what is rewarding in PvP.

Mentality 1 (which I am a part of) gets the rewarding experience from beating other players. What helps this be more rewarding is when players have identical stats and gear so there is an emphasis on skill.

Mentality 2 gets a rewarding experience from obtaining shinies from PvP. What promotes this type of rewarding experience is gaining a tangible sense of accomplishment in the form of gear. Having an ever increasing PvP facilitates this mentality.

Basically M1 strokes their epeen over your corpse, and M2 strokes their epeen at a gear vendor.

Expertise is a needed stat but new players gearing up to be competitive is an issue. The solution to it, honestly, is to add a competitive set of pvp gear that is nearly as good as the epic set but make it extremely quick and easy to obtain, I mean a blue quality full set of gear (body pieces, weapon, relics, implants, etc.) that costs some 5 warzone tokens a piece to get.

Doing so allows the new 50 pvp players to be competitive without giving them an edge over the players that have been doing it for a while.

this. this right here is EXACTLY what i wished WOW arenas were. BG's are one thing, to be able to customize gear to your group and play style would be perfect. WHILE on the other hand where the "true competitiveness" would end up would being in arenas, in which case, pre determined stats on gear ( with the skin / rank thing , great idea ) due to your spec and class would be extremely balanced. this and forever this. BG's is just bull**** fun in the first place, customize your gear with PVP gear AND pve gear to your play style suit. arenas tho....give me armor and a weapon thats suited for this just occasion, along like everyone else ( gladiator style baby ) and i will believe that a God truly exists.

there is no warzones in here just good ol huttball, i have yet to see any other warzone besides huttball, can we please have cross server pvp or have retardball removed.

To me the main difference is more than just gear and I think expertise should stay. In PvE you raid to get gear to down bosses, you find the guild that fits you and your level of play. Once you beat him you feel accomplished, then maybe you want to set a new record by beaating him fast and thus farm him. Or just get totally geared out to be ready for the next patch/expansion.

In PvP, we have no boss, we only have each other to compete for, our goals is to get to the top of everyone. This is more than just a 1v1 mentality, this is a gorup effort and thus the guild you are in is also important. We get gear and continually hone our team play just as the PvEers rehears their strategy. To new players the old players is their "challenge" their goal is to take the top spot. Without the barrier the challenge isn't as challenging.

Look at the state od MMOs, raids getting too easy and people quit, sure it gives you that instant gratification for winning the game, but after that it becomes stale. There is nothing to work towards, no new gear to look forward to getting. Refining teamwork is fine, but I need more than a victory screen and **** talking in vent to keep me motivated.

Maybe Raids in SWTOR is simply too easy if people can down them and have time to grind out PvP gear, but if thats the case then BW needs to raise the bar, not lower them. Just as a raider don't want newbs entering their playgorund and kick their accomplishments into nothing, PvPers don't want PvEers to walk into their playground and do as they please.

I enjoy PvP, and I can say I am fairly skilled, I can recognize the people who are constantly PvPing and those who are in there a few times. Due to switching of servers I haven't gotten a 50 yet, and when I fight them I know which ones have the expertise gear and which ones don't. Though I get frustrated sometimes when I get steam rolled by them, I look forward to the day I get my own set and see, how they fair.

I completely understand what your saying about time and effort in raids vs warzones. I did raid pretty hardcore in vanilla wow and organizing 40 people and waiting for those 40 people to learn the strat and all get it right at the same time is far more difficult than grinding warzones (rated, and arenas excluded like you mentioned). Maybe someone can come up with a way to make the investment equal, maybe they cant. But my opinion of a PvP stat will remain the same. It's unnecessary to me. Most PvPers seem to be proud of their skill, so get rid of the stat that gives you an edge over those who don't pvp much. You pvp often, they don't, so you should have the experience to win.

But im not unhappy, and haven't used up my play time. Im not upset about killing lower level players too easily. When I'm calling the PvP stat a crutch, that's coming from my general experience with all MMO's, I'm not really speaking specifically of SWTOR. I will play it either way. I will continue to be PvP focused either way. Until a more PvP focused MMO comes out. I'm praying for AoC's combat system to be in a future game.

Edit: I honestly think, (you may not be included) most people who like the PvP stat, like it because once they acquire a bit of it they can easily roll a majority of people they run into in open world.

I don't want to have to spend 16 hours a day farming just to lose by someone who only plays for forty-five minutes every other day! Keep the stats, how else will I know I'm better than others?

Let me just start this off again by saying I understand the need for PVP stats, just to hopefully avoid having people put words in my mouth again that I think I should be the best at everything and that I think expertise should be removed.

The difference between what you just described and MMO gameplay is that it doesn't matter how good I am, I'm still going to suck if I don't have the gear to be competitive. I did not suck at my class in WoW, and I did decently despite not having the best resilience gear available, or even a crew who enjoyed PVP to run with.

But I'll use the same analogy. Let's say I really enjoy football and basketball. This isn't me deciding to go from being a major basketball player to a major football player, I'm just a basketball player who enjoys football as well. In real life, I would not go immediately into the major leagues just because I want to play a game of football.

This is essentially what happens in MMOs. People who put the time in to get the best gear are people I will unavoidably come into contact with, just because they'll be running the warzones same as me. So I have to sacrifice more of my free time to keep an up-to-date set of gear to be able to enjoy both aspects of the game.

Furthermore, like I said, not being able to take my PVE gear into PVP cheapens PVE for me as well. I get a new piece of gear in a raid, oh boy! What can I use it for? Well... running the same damn content again only slightly more efficiently. Yay... that's totally more fun than using it to fight other players.

But I also understand that some players don't like raiding and don't want to have to raid just to enjoy the aspect of the game they like more. See? I can dislike something while understanding why it has to exist.